Max

I almost forgot Max. Erin got Max in January with some money she got for Christmas. When I agreed to get a hamster, I thought "What do I think I'm doing? I must be crazy", but I've really fallen in love with Max. He is so cute! He and I've really bonded. I've been training him, so that he doesn't mind being held, and now he actually trusts me! He is so sweet! And he's really easy to take care of too. The best kind of pet.

Spring is finally here!

The weather is finally warming and the weeds are already growing! Erin got a great idea today. We packed up a lunch and sat out on our front lawn for a picnic. It was glorious! This is what I've been missing all winter long: just being able to go outside without freezing my toosh off! We had fun. I took a couple of pictures, and then the kids had some fun with the camera. What a beautiful afternoon.
Erin and her friend Claire.

Devin

Colin

Happy Birthday John!

John turned 37 on the 14th of March. For his Birthday we did what he wanted to do: rest. He was getting over his virus, and work has been unbelievably stressful for him lately, so we wanted to rest. He got a bag of his favorite things (a new U2 CD, funny movie, chocolate covered peanuts etc.), and I cleaned out a room downstairs and set up a workout room for him. He was so excited! We hung out and watched movies, went out to his favorite restaurant for dinner and came back home for cake and Ice cream. It was a good Birthday. Happy Birthday John.

We're back!

It's been a little while since I've blogged, and for good reason. About a week after Erin's birthday, I got sick. I thought it was the flu, (because no one else was sick and I was the only one who didn't get a flu shot) but when my throat kept getting worse I decided to go to the doctor. It turned out that it was strep. Not fun! I was out of commission for for several days. When John got home from work he took care of dinner and the kids, and that weekend My Mom and Dad came and helped take care of me too. While they were here we celebrated my Dad's birthday.

Just when I started feeling better, Erin came down with something else (She tested negative for strep). Her illness brought out 2 huge cold sores. John and I have never had cold sores before, so we ran out and bought the best medecine available for them and put it on faithfully for 2 whole days. Well, it turns out that Erin's allergic to Abreva. We tried benadryl and hydrocortizone, but it kept getting worse. When it got to this :

We took her to the doctor.

Poor thing!

She missed 3 days of school just because we were concerned that other kids would make fun of her.

Next both of the boys got sick, and then not long after that, John got very sick. The latest thing to go around lately is a stomach bug that gives you indigetion and the runs. Needless to say, we are ready for winter to end.

Erin's Birthday Party

On Saturday, Erin turned 7 years old! I can't believe it! Well, it was her turn to have a birthday party (they can have one every other year). Erin chose to have a Wild animal party, so we decorated the house like a jungle with trees, and leaves, vines and animals. She had a wild animal cake, we played wild animal games, and we gave out treat bags with wild animal treats and prizes. All in all, the party was a complete success. The girls all had fun and Erin got tons of presents! She was a happy girl!

Banana eating Monkey contest!

Opening presents

Some of my jungle decorations.

Our weekend project

We spent this weekend painting Erin's room! She's so excited! She got to pick out her own colors and she even helped out! We've been planning on doing this since we moved in, and are finally getting around to it.

First we had to move Colin into, and Erin out of Devin's room. (Because Colin's been such a bad sleeper and Devin wakes up in the night with nightmares, it's taken a while to get up the guts to move them in together.)

Erin picked the colors, we cleared out the room and then we went for it. The original plan was to paint the trim and doors white too, but we decided that the brown looked pretty good with the pink and blue. (That made the project so much easier!)

We're so excited to have Erin in her own room, and our computer room is ours once more.

Cancun

For our 10 year anniversary, John decided to do something really special for me. He took me to Cancun!

It was a nightmare getting there. First we drove home from Delta on Christmas night in a blizzard! We went 30m/h the whole way! What normally takes lest than 2 hours took over 4! Then we couldn't pull into our driveway, because we had snow 2 feet deep in our driveway, and only rear wheel drive! Long story short, we didn't get to bed until 2:00 am. Then we got up and drove in more snow to the airport, stood in long lines that weren't moving. We wouldn't have made it onto our flight if John hadn't told a Delta Airlines worker our sob story. It worked and we finally made it through security just in time to jump on the plane and leave. Wow!

When we got to Cancun, It had all been worth it! The weather was beautiful! It was all so relaxing and enjoyable. We stayed at a beautiful all inclusive resort that was right on the beach. It was an awesome hotel! We could go down to the beach (the water was perfect!) or sit at the pool and swim up to the in pool bar (only virgin drinks for us of course). We could eat what we wanted when we wanted. There was always a restaurant open and room service was included which was nice in the morning if we were pressed for time.

Our first full day there we went to Chitzen Itza. What an amazing place. It baffles me that structures built so long ago by a people almost extinct are still around. We took a tour and then had a bit of time to ourselves to explore.

We also went Snorkeling while we were in Cancun. It was my first time ever. It was really fun and quite amazing to swim with the fish and see that they're there with you. It takes

a bit of time to get used to the snorkel gear though. At first I had a hard time putting my face in the water and breathing at the same time. Once I got used to it, though, I couldn't get enough of it.

Our guide found a turtle, and we got it's picture! Pretty amazing!

All in all it was a very relaxing break and a great place to get away from all the snow and the stresses of life.